Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory: Jay R. Greenberg and Stephen A. Mitchell. Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press, 1983, x + 437 pp., $24.95.

Object relations theory alters the focus of psychoanalysis, shifting the theoretical emphasis from the study of Oedipal dynamics to the phenomenon of infantile dependency as a causal factor in personality development. Although the growth of object relations theory reflects a general trend in psychoanalysis away from biologically centered instinct theory to a more interpersonal “nurture-centered” approach, the object relations perspective also has roots in a number of other areas. Theories of object relations reflect an understanding of cognitive development and the acquisition of object constancy as discussed in the writings of Piaget. Considerations arising out of the analyses of narcissistic and borderline patients-in which preoedipal reconstruction replaced Oedipal interpretation as the primary focus of treatment-also provided an impetus for the development of object relations theories of personality (Kernberg, 1970, 1975; Kohut, 1971, 1977); issues of infantile dependency and attachment became particularly salient within this framework. Ferenczi's studies of infant behavior, as well as Anna Freud's and Mahler's writings on ego development and childhood emotional disorders were also significant influences on the development of psychoanalytic object relations theory. Mayman (1976) has correctly recognized that object relations theory also derives in part from psychoanalysts' need to formulate a theory of personality